March 9^th, 1997, 1:15 AM. Christopher George Latore Wallace lies in a hospital bed. He has four bullet wounds in his chest, and he is dead. In the coming hours and for years to follow, Wallace will be mourned by more than just his family and friends. Biggie Smalls, the face of east coast rap, has died, and rap music will never be the same.

Wallace was twenty four years old, and if you asked his mother the day he was born if she thought he was going to be one of the greatest rappers in history, she probably would have said no. A straight-A student at a private school, he later transfered to a state-funded school where Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes were also in attendance, where he began rapping.

Wallace released his first demo in 1992. It gathered almost no attention for him until he was featured in The Source’s Unsigned Hype column. He then was invited onto a mixtape that was reviewed by Sean “Diddy” Combs, who imedeately signed him to Uptown Records.

His first solo album was released in 1994, and it peaked at #13 on the Billboard 200. By the end of the year, he and Tupac Shakur were involved in one of the largest hip-hop feudes of all time .

Two years later, Shakur was shot in Las Vegas, Nevada. He died six days later due to complications from the bullet wounds. Before Shakur was pronounced dead, Wallace had already been blamed by multiple sources. A formal investigation was never conducted, but Wallace denied any relation to the shooting.

In 1997, Wallace released his second album, which ended up at #1 on the Billboard 200. He had gotten in a car accident that shattered his leg during the recording, and had decided “to focus on his ‘peace of mind’. ‘My mom… my son… my daughter… my family… my friends are what matters to me now'”

On March 8th, 1997, Wallace attended the Soul Train Music Awards. He left after the show was over with no idea that in 45 minutes, the world would lose one of its most prominent public figures, him.

R.I.P. Biggie Smalls